Scales and Swords ✓

32: To Destroy

"Caught myself some good looking game," said the scar-faced man. Something about him seemed off and it wasn't just his strange foreign accent, he didn't look fully human. Maybe it was his jagged teeth and pointy ears. But other than that he was a lean young man with rich brown skin and curly hair, who hunted humans. When he saw Brise and I, his eyes widened slightly. "I see we have guests."

Lucius, Rowan and Philip were unconscious but they looked mostly unharmed.

"They were being chased," Tobias began, "but I was able to help them. They're sisters and their names are, eh, what were your names again?"

"We never told you and we don't intend to," Brise hissed.

I laughed and hit Brise on the arm. She sneered but gave in. "My name is Vanut and this lizard hybrid is Jones."

"It's December," I clarified. "My sister is quite the jokester." I didn't miss Brise glaring at me from the corner of my eye.

"Xon," the scar-faced man said apathetically. "Well, I should get going."

"Wait," I exclaimed. Xon regarded me. "You're not actually going to eat them are you?"

He cracked a smile. "Well that's racist of you."

"Oh I uh," I stumbled over my words as my cheeks flushed.

"I'm joking." He laughed a brief empty laugh.

"You're not very funny," Brise commented.

With a chilly gaze, he regarded Brise. "Wasn't trying to be. I just find it amusing how Kreatians still think that ogres drool at the sight of human flesh. The world has moved forward and ogres are no exception. See you sisters around, I guess." He tapped the room wall, revealing strange symbols printed across his wrist. The room clinked and continued up the tree.

"He's not from here," Brise mused.

"Xon is a good young man with a troubled past," Tobias disclosed. "But don't we all have troubled pasts." He said the last part with a small smile that carried a weight so much greater.

"What's he going to do with those men?" I asked.

Tobias pursed his lips. "You girls know what we have here isn't exactly legal. Most people know not to enter such a sacred ground as this, but every so often people wander in and we can't risk anyone knowing that such a settlement exists."

"So he's going kill them," Brise probed.

He gave a small smile. "No, we don't do that round here. He'll just ask them a few questions. You girls don't have to worry, they'll be fine. Shall we continue our tour."

We crossed the bridges from house to house meeting the residents, who were mostly interracial couples and their vuruk children. They had an aid post, a small school, a large empty space with a dome-shaped roof built on forked and intersecting branches of several trees, which was basically a community hall, an area where vines hung like hair from the trees, where kids played, swinging from vine to vine and falling onto the strange giant mushrooms just below only to spring back up.

"So where do you guys get your food," I asked.

"The forest of course," explained Tobias, "we have hunting teams, gathering teams, building and maintenance teams—everyone has a job. Food is shared equally, no one gets too little or too much."

We ended our journey at the orphanage. Where the children were currently having supper.

"Who takes care of the kids here?" I inquired.

"I care for them," Tobias said, "and anyone else, who has free time. So, what do you girls think? Is this somewhere you think you can call home?"

Brise and I exchanged glances. She nodded. "We'd like to talk about it first."

We went to the bridge's center where we spoke.

"This place is useless," Brise said. "Unless all the vuruk children here enlist before they're eighteen then this little community they've built is going to be found and torn down, other than that we don't have any reason to ever come back here."

"What about the guys?"

"Oh," she said, her brows rising. "Forgot about them. Here's the plan, we tell Toby we'll stay for a while, we find them, kill whoever gets in the way and we get the hell out of here."

I shook my heads in disappointment when a familiar face came out the orphanage doors and began talking with Tobias. "Wait."

I went over to Tobias. He smiled and beckoned me over.

"This is Nareem, one of our oldest," Tobias shared. "Nareem meet Vanut and December."

Nareem shook hands with Brise and then with me. When we locked eyes, he didn't give much of a reaction as he was supposed to.

"Nareem and his sister were one of the first kids this orphanage took in. And now he's gotten so big, it feels like only yesterday I was helping him wear his shirts."

"Tobias," Nareem groaned. And then I knew where I saw him. He was the florial boy who put us to sleep.

"Have you made up your mind? are you staying?" Tobias probed.

"Yes," I said immediately.

"No," Brise said a second later. She sent me a deathly glare and pulled me back to the bridge. "What the hell Jones?"

"Nareem, he works for Cyr."

"You've met him before?"

"He pretended to be a bandit and put us to sleep while we were escorting the king. But it turned out he only did that to identify us. We let him go, though— "

"You did what?" Brise roared.

"It was a moment of weakness. We thought he was just a little boy. The point is he worked with the people who tried to follow us to Aglovale's manor. He works for Cyr. We have to stay."

For a moment, she was silent. Then she let out a breath. "Alright, we'll stay, but listen here December or whatever your name is, don't get chummy with the people round here. We're not here to make friends, we're here destroy all those who support Cyr. Do I make myself clear?"

I swallowed, giving into her deadly gaze. "Yes."